Antiochus and Stratonice
Primary
Paolo Pagani
(Castello Valsolda, Como, Italy, 1661–Milan, Italy, 1716)
NationalityItalian, Europe
Datecirca 1690–96
MediumPen and black ink with brush and gray wash over black chalk on beige antique laid paper
DimensionsSheet: 10 13/16 × 21 7/16 in. (27.5 × 54.4 cm)
Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, The Suida-Manning Collection, 2017.1261
Rights Statement
Collection AreaPrints and Drawings
Object number2017.1261
On View
Not on viewFormed in northernmost Lombardy but trained in Venice, Pagani managed a very personal synthesis of the eccentric expression of his native school with the grand painterly tradition. Between 1690 and 1696, Pagani executed his most important decorative projects for a number of the prince-bishops in Bohemia and Poland. Based upon numerous ancient sources, the subject of this drawing is Antiochus’s love for his step-mother, Stratonice, which is first recognized by the royal doctor and, in an act of moral courage, accepted by his father, Seleucus, aged king of Syria. Pagani not only rendered the moment of the doctor’s diagnosis, but wrote the narration in the margin below. The drawing’s dissolved and slightly delirious style corresponds to that of others associated with his activity in Central Europe. It probably prepared a major composition for one of his patrons’ residences.
Exhibitions
